Obama Declares War On Christmas By Having Too Many Christmas Trees

Amazing how a reelection can reshape an incumbent’s thinking about many things. Now safely ensconced in the White House for 49 more months, the Obamas have decorated the place with 54 Christmas trees this year.

Even allowing for the usual Washington excesses with taxpayer money, that’s a whole grove of Christmas trees.

“We have 54 trees in the White House,” an excited Michelle Obama proudly told visitors the other day. “54! That’s a lot of trees.”

In fact, the Obamas’ 54 trees this year are almost 50% more Christmas trees than last year. That was during the campaign before Obama whispered a reminder to the Russians that he had to be careful until Nov. 6, when a victory would give him more “flexibility.”

Now, how much carbon do you suppose those 54 trees could be sequestering had they not been chopped by this green president?

And no wonder Obama talked over the weekend about addressing tax increases before any of that annoying business about cutting spending to address this thing called the national debt, now having soared past $16.3 trillion..

In addition to 54 Christmas trees, Michelle Obama has overseen the placement of thousands of ornaments in public rooms. Many of the ornaments celebrate the Obama family dog, Bo, who seems to have become the First Family’s favorite symbol of Christmas. Other decorations, including on the more prominent trees, were made by children in schools on U.S. military bases.

There’s several hundred yards of garlands and wreaths all over the hallways and rooms. And, of course, a traditional gingerbread house that has working chandeliers and weighs about 300 pounds.

As James Joyner noted just under a year ago, this is a complaint we see all the time from partisan opponents of whoever happens to be PresIident of the United States at the time. Additionally, all of the Christmas decorations at the White House aren’t some personal vanity thing for the Obama family, they are meant to be observed and enjoyed by the tourists and guests who will be visiting during the Holiday Season. It’s a tradition that Presidents have followed for a long, long time, and attacking Obama or it is quite simply absurd. Additionally, I must note that last year, the White House had 37 trees. This year, they increased that by 45%. Isn’t that good for the economy?

Of course, I have to think that this is one of those things where it really doesn’t matter what President Obama does as far as conservatives are concerned.

Holy christ, your link to last year’s post… its the same guy writing the same article with basically the same headline

When Andrew Malcolm is on his death bed and looking back at his life’s work, do you think he will dwell upon these asinine articles and tell himself, “yes, I was a positive contributor to society, in the mold of Thomas Jefferson” or do you think he’ll realize he was an embarrassing hack, and cry himself to death?

Personally, the trappings of the Presidency are too regal for my taste. I don’t really care what tourists visiting the White House think and I don’t see any reason why the White House under any President should engage in such extravagance. I was on a WH tour years ago (before 9/11 when you could see more than you can now) and it was a bit creepy how similar it was to the tour I took of Windsor Castle. In short, I would like the WH to err on the side of humility rather than extravagance.

Then there is the absurd security – just as one example, when the President visited Disney World earlier this year to give a speech, they shut down all the water taxis and many of the monorails for about a 1/2 hour – apparently a bunch of sweaty tourists with screaming kids on a boat a mile from a large building the President is in is somehow deemed a security concern. Don’t get me wrong, I think the President needs good security, but a lot of it seems pretty excessive.

@john personna: Actually, you can get to 57 if you include DC, Puerto Rico, the other US territories to include Wake Island. Add in GITMO and you’ve conceivably got 58, so there’s room to expand next year.

When Andrew Malcolm is on his death bed and looking back at his life’s work, do you think he will dwell upon these asinine articles and tell himself, “yes, I was a positive contributor to society, in the mold of Thomas Jefferson” or do you think he’ll realize he was an embarrassing hack, and cry himself to death?

In fact, the Obamas’ 54 trees this year are almost 50% more Christmas trees than last year. That was during the campaign before Obama whispered a reminder to the Russians that he had to be careful until Nov. 6, when a victory would give him more “flexibility.”

If someone can tell me what the first sentence above has to do with the second, I’ll buy them a Coke…..but, in fact, we all know. Bizarre non-sensical references to whispering to the Russians and out-of-context insinuations about “flexibility” (translation: flexibility to set up FEMA re-education camps patrolled by ObamaCorps!) are all carefully designed to create unease in their right-wing readers.